A statistical project on measuring the non-observed economy, including underground and illegal economies, will be proposed to the Prime Minister for approval this year, said head of the Vietnam General Statistics Office Nguyen Bich Lam.

Speaking at the Ministry of Planning and Investment’s conference on January 15 to review the ministry’s work in 2017 and implement 2018 tasks, Lam said that the project aims to collect information on economic activities that affect the scale of the economy but are not measured in GDP, in order to achieve more accurate economic indicators.

According to him, underground economy includes legal economic activities which are hidden intentionally to avoid tax and social insurance payment or avoid implementing State regulations on minimum salary and maximum work hours as well as legal and administrative procedures such as financial and statistical reports.

Meanwhile, illegal economy comprises of banned activities, including drug production and trading, prostitution, and those which are not banned by law but conducted by illegal producers.

The non-observed economy also contains informal household economy and those missed by the statistical system, Lam added.

The head of the statistical sector promised that when the project gets the green light in the first quarter of this year, the sector with work with relevant ministries, sectors and localities to find out a feasible solution to implementing the project.

He affirmed that in 2018, the sector will ensure statistical information, improve the quality of statistical work, especially analysis and predictions on macro-economic situation, and conduct research on growth scenarios serving management work.

It will also adjust the GDP scale on the basis of the results of the agro-fishery-forestry survey in 2016 and the 2017 economic census.